


Everybody Talks

by mirage_vld



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, More tags later, drabbles bc ya girl cannot maintain a plot, lowkey rewriting voltron with (more) rep, mostly klance lol, shadam/adashi is real sis, title from neon trees oops, word count will prolly increase with chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-22 14:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16599383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirage_vld/pseuds/mirage_vld
Summary: A compilation of Voltron rewrites. Either in-between moments we never got to see, seeing actual friendships form, or another version of scenes. Maybe all three!





	1. what if they weren't rivals

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story on here. I have no idea what I'm doing.  
> Alternative title: Thumb War

_Insomnia is a bitch_ , thought Keith on his third walk of the week. Whenever Keith couldn’t sleep -- which was almost never -- he took a walk around the castle. Some nights he was in an exploring mood; some nights he was in a fighting mood. Tonight, was the latter. 

Keith didn't mind walking in the dark, it was quite comforting, actually. He knew that it was only him, his footsteps, and the stars. On his way to the kitchen, he heard a soft noise. He froze in his tracks, instinctively pulling out his knife. He crept toward where he assumed the noise was coming from cautiously. He turned a corner.

The red paladin strained his eyes to see a small alcove with a blanket wrapped around a slightly shaking figure. 

“L-Lance?” Keith whispered into the darkness.

“Yup, that's me,” Lance croaked.

“Fuck,” Keith murmured. “Buddy, you okay?” he offered.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Lance responded. Keith still hadn't seen Lance’s face, yet he knew something was wrong.

“You don't seem to be fine, Lance. You're crying at three in the morning,” Keith stated.

“I just- I don't- I miss Earth,” he concluded. Somehow, Keith could tell that wasn't it. He approached the alcove and gingerly squeezed in next to Lance. 

The Cuban took a shaky breath.

“Lance, I don't think that’s all it is.”

“I'm not required to t- !"

“Thumb war,” Keith stuck his hand out, thumb up, fingers curled.

“Wh-what? Why?” Lance quavered, trying to discreetly wipe his tears.

“Whoever loses has to say at least one thing about them.”

Lance’s eyes met Keith’s. Then he grasped his hand. 

“One, two, three, four -- I declare thumb war -- five, six, seven, eight -- try to keep your thumb straight,” they said together. Their hands immediately jumped into action. Elbow twisting, fingers curving, wrists bending.

“You're going down, McClain,” Keith growled.

“Try me, Kogane. I'll have you know I'm the thumb war champion. I kick ass, I take names- See!” Lance held down Keith’s thumb as hard as he possibly could. “One…” Keith’s face was turning red with effort. “Two…” The red paladin glanced at Lance's face and momentarily lost concentration. “Three! Ha! Get _fucked_ , Kogane!”

“Three?! What do you mean three?!” Keith’s voice cracked. “It's ten seconds!”

“It is not! You’re just a sore loser!”

“Since when is it three it seconds?!”

“Since forever!”

“It's been ten seconds since forever!” Keith cried.

“Fine, Mullet. Let's compromise. Six seconds, nothing more, nothing less.”

“One, two, three, four…”

Lance won again.

“Spill, Kogane.”

“Alright, um,” Keith took a deep breath, “I’m gay.”

Lance looked very not shocked. “I know.”

“And you’re not weirded out?” Keith asked, lowering his head.

“What? You think I’m homophobic?” Keith shook his head.

“Well, how did you even know?! I never show interest in anyone!”

“You wear a literal cropped jacket, dude. I know a disaster gay when I see one.” Keith sputtered. “Takes one to know one,” the Cuban muttered.

“What was that?” Keith snapped.

Lance held his hand out, “Thumb war,” he smirked. 

“Fine,” he sighed, and began counting. 

“You win; I said ‘Takes one to know one.’"

“You're gay?” Keith asked.

“Half. I'm bi.”

_Huh_ , Keith thought, _now that I think about it that makes sense._ “Wow, I uh… never considered that ‘til now.”

“You know me, hahah. Flirtin’ with anything that breathes…” He pointed finger guns at Keith who rolled his eyes.

Many anecdotes were told over and unspoken agreement to be confidants. The red and blue paladins were found later that morning sleeping under a shared blanket.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Lance? Keith?” Lance remained snoring and Keith grunted in acknowledgement. “Uh, what are you guys doing out here?” Hunk asked.

Keith rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and kicked Lance. “Go away,” the blue paladin groaned. 

“Get the hell up, Lance,” Keith growled. Lance cracked an eye open.

“Hey, Hunk!” Lance said as enthusiastic as you can be when it's early in the morning and you got four vargas of sleep.

“Good morning, Lance! What are you guys doing here?” he repeated.

“We uh-" Keith cut off with a yawn. “-were watching space.”

“Um, okay…” Hunk trailed off suspiciously. “Well, I'll have breakfast ready in about 20 doboshes.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Lance called as Hunk walked away.

“You can tell me what you were actually upset about anytime. I know I'm not really good at comforting people, but I can try,” Keith said lowly. 

“Taken into consideration,” Lance noted. “Thanks, dude.” The blue paladin attempted to untangle himself from the blanket, but ended up with a bruised butt on the floor and a snickering Keith. “Shut up, Mullet,” he muttered. 

“Bye, Lance,” Keith drawled. Lance scowled and sauntered away. Keith would have said he didn't watch Lance’s ass as he walked away, but he was definitely guilty of doing just that.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Breakfast was a loud affair, but everyone noticed the shift in the boys’ relationship. 

Keith was the first to leave. “I'm going to train,” he announced. Then walked off.

Hunk dragged Lance to the lounge after they both finished breakfast. “Sooooo, buddy ol' pal, what's goin’ on with you and Keith?” he waggled his eyebrows.

Lance plopped on the couch with a huff. “It's not like that, man,” the Cuban said softly. “It’s just, I was... homesick last night and he found me. He sat next to me and since I wouldn't really tell him what was wrong we played thumb war and we started talking about our childhoods and stuff like that. He's actually… kinda cool, now that I think about it. I don't think we're really rivals anymore.” 

Hunk raised his eyebrows to his headband. “Interesting,” he summarized. “I'll um, go do stuff with Pidge.” He left Lance contemplating the shift of his view on Keith. However, in actuality, he was going to talk to the boy in question. “Pause training sequence!” he called.

“Hi, Hunk…” Keith said hesitantly, shrinking his bayard.

“Hey, Keith; my dude; my main man.” Keith’s arms crossed.

“What,” though it wasn't really a question.

“What's going on with you and Lance? What happened to the ‘rivalry’?”

“Um,” the red paladin’s walls fully locked into place, “nothing is ‘going on’,” he quoted, “last night we talked and played thumb war.”

“That's it?”

“That's it,” Keith deadpanned.

“Alright, dude,” Hunk backed away. “I'll see you later.”

“Bye,” Keith said, monotone. “Resume training sequence!” 

Keith slashed, blocked, dodged, and slid while fighting training robots. Unbeknownst to him, Lance watched from a corner, arms crossed and a smirk on his lips.

The red paladin was in his element. Keith’s fighting style was contradictory. He was beautiful and brutal. His body was graceful, elegant, mesmerizing, even. Yet his demeanor was merciless and violent while his actions were harsh and fierce. He was truly, a sight to behold. Lance could have watched him fight all day. It was if Keith’s sharp angles and soft curves held him in a trance. He was alarmingly dangerous but-

Wait, where did this come from? Keith was his rival, his frenemy. They were supposed to hate each other. He was supposed to like Allura! He wasn't supposed to feel like this- he wasn’t _allowed_ to feel like this. Where did this attraction come from?! 

Though they weren't really rivals anymore, now were they? After last night/early morning, he'd seen a new side of Keith. A caring, somewhat sweet, and kind of funny Keith. They definitely were not rivals anymore. He squashed the confusion and attraction down like he did with everything. At least until the emotions came bubbling up... late at night… in an alcove. He'd have to figure this out later. He took a deep breath.

“Pause training sequence!” Keith called. Lance froze and so did the robot. The Cuban started panicking, thinking that Keith had heard him. Instead Keith rolled a liga off his wrist and wrapped it around his short ponytail. 

_Is it hot in here?_ Lance thought. Who knew simply putting a mullet into a ponytail could be so hot? Lance closed his eyes to try and calm himself before speaking up.

“Uh, hey dude.” _Fuck, that was awkward._ Keith jumped slightly and turned to look at Lance.

“What?”

“Can I train with you? Allura and Shiro said we would probably have to fight Galra on the ground soon and I don't really know how to use a sword,” he said sheepishly.

“Sure,” Keith shrugged. He went over the basics for Lance. Such as how to hold your sword, when to use a unilateral or multilateral position, and when to slash, along with others. Keith tried very hard not to touch Lance, and when he did, his stomach dipped.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“‘Kay, well, swordsmanship is obviously not your strong suit,” Keith concluded.

Lance still lay on the ground after being knocked flat on his ass. “Ya think?” Lance growled, slightly raising his head to glare at Keith. The red paladin snorted and offered Lance a hand in getting up. Lance popped up and dusted off his armor.

“What if you just use your gun?” suggested Keith.

“Uh, well I did shoot Sendak the other day.”

“So your gun…” Keith trailed off, thinking. “You can get on one of those platforms up there and call some robots.”

“Good idea, Keith!” Lance smiled. Keith’s face reddened, and he thanked whoever was watching over him that Lance had turned away. 

Lance ran over to a ledge to build up momentum, then jumped, grabbing hold of the ledge and pulling himself up with surprising agility. Keith swore under his breath. 

“Aim training sequence on!” Lance called. _How did he know that phrase?_ Keith stood off to the side, ready to slash robots if they got too overwhelming for the blue paladin. Rather the opposite, Lance increased levels.

Keith switched over to the other side of the training room. “Resume training sequence!”

Eventually, Lance got tired and convinced Keith not to overwork himself. They went to their separate rooms to change out of their paladin armor and met back up in the kitchen. Lance walked in, eyelids drooping, while Keith was chugging water. 

“Hey, Mullet,” Lance said quietly. “Thanks for helping me train.” Keith almost choked on his water. Lance snickered. 

“Shut up,” Keith scowled. He coughed slightly while fist bumping Lance’s outstretched hand. “And no problem, Sharpshooter,” he grinned. A Cheshire-like smile grew on Lance’s face. _Why is his smile so bright?_ Keith thought.

“Awww, you remembered,” Lance quipped.

“Yeah,” Keith grumbled flatly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I have no idea what I'm doing. Also, this is set in season 1, sometime before the whole thing with Nyma and Rolo, but after the bonding moment.


	2. stop flirting with aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Episode 6 of season 1, the situation with Nyma and Rolo, from Keith's perspective.

Keith sat impatiently on a box of supplies. The team had responded to a distress signal and it turned out to be two aliens and a robot that reminded Keith of R2-D2. The red paladin thought this was pointless, Voltron was supposed to defend the universe, not help some rogue aliens whose craft broke down. However, Keith wasn’t as mad as he could have been. The male alien, Rolo, was kinda cute; and hey -- eye candy is eye candy.

However, his main eye candy was being stupid. Quiznacking stupid Lance, being himself, flirted with the female alien, Nyma, and went off with her. He took her for a ride in the Blue Lion and they still weren’t back. He was such a quiznacking flirt. Not that Keith cared, oh no, he was just mad that Lance couldn’t focus on the mission. That instead, he got to take a joy ride with a pretty alien, while the rest of the team sat on hard boxes. Rolo test-flew the craft with fake R2-D2 to see if it worked. But he was gone longer than he should have been. 

_“Guys? Hello? Little help?”_ sounded Lance’s voice, grainy and worried through the comms in Shiro’s helmet.

“Lance?” Shiro asked, sliding on his helmet. “Lance! Are you alright? What’s going on?”

 _“Well,”_ Lance began, _“I’m kinda chained to a tree.”_

“I knew it!” Hunk exclaimed. 

_“And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion,”_ Lance confessed solemnly.

“I _knew_ it!”

“Where are they?” questioned Shiro. His voice had that authoritative, almost demanding, lilt that Keith knew so well.

 _“Uh… space?”_ Keith snorted.

“Ugh, I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning!” As each paladin (except Lance) traveled to their lion’s hangar, Hunk went on some ardent tirade that Keith almost completely blocked out. A few of the key words the red paladin could gather were “...feeling in my gut… pipe… cracked but not damaged….”

“Okay, we get it,” Keith grumbled, trying not to sound _too_ mean. Hunk still kept going, as if Keith hadn’t said anything. “Okay! We get it,” he repeated. Hunk continued talking until everyone shouted, “Okay, we get it!”

They had tracked down the craft and were gaining speed on it as it approached some space rock field. 

“We’ll never get through this asteroid field,” Pidge announced.

“Maybe I can just bust through,” suggested Hunk. _Yeah, because they’re gigantic asteroids bigger than your lion,_ Keith thought. Hunk attempted, and failed. “Nope. That was wrong. That was a bad idea,” the yellow paladin concluded.

“Keith,” called Shiro, “you’re the only one who could possibly fly through this.” Keith smirked. This was probably easier than level fifteen on the Garrison flight simulator. “We need you, buddy. Get in there, and flush him out,” Shiro commanded.

“You got it,” Keith said, preparing himself. “See you on the other side.” The red paladin powered through, dodging asteroids, turning left, weaving right, eyes ahead the whole time. He pushed off the bigger asteroids, using the jets to give him more of a boost. He advanced on the craft. The blasters on the back of it raised and fired an onslaught of purple bullets. The Red Lion easily dodged and Keith decided to counterattack, shooting blue beams at the craft. Unfortunately, Rolo was able to evade them. The Red Lion was gaining on the target while dodging bullets. Keith was almost touching the target before it swerved away from a giant asteroid, causing Keith to use his jets to avoid crashing. Keith recovered with a backwards arc and launched Red’s jawblade in the form of a boomerang. The jawblade deactivated the blasters, eliminating the threat. The craft jolted ahead, trying to escape. Keith fired a beam at one of the turbine engines with precision. The craft span wildly out of control. Keith piloted Red to land on the craft and neutralize it. After a vigorous chase, both parties seemed to float almost calmly. The rest of the Lions enclosed the craft.

“Yeah!” Keith chuckled. “Hey, Lance, I got your Lion back.”

“Thank you, Keith,” Lance said softly. “Now can you come and unchain me?” he implored.

“What’s that? I, uh… You’re cutting out. I can’t… I can’t hear you,” Keith announced, jokingly.

“Oh, come on! I thought we bonded!” Lance complained. “Keith? Buddy? My man?” 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith ignored him and began his short trip to the planet where Lance was stranded. When the red paladin landed, he jumped out of Red’s mouth and sauntered over to Lance and his tree.

“Hey, Sharpshooter,” Keith greeted.

“Fuck you,” Lance cursed, “I knew you could hear me.” 

Keith smirked, “Uh huh. Now how do I get you out of these?”

“Use your bayard, dumbass.” 

The red paladin huffed. “Y’know, I don’t _have_ to free you.”

“But you do. How else could we form Voltron?”

“I guess,” Keith shrugged. After Keith freed him and a quick ‘thanks’, Keith and Lance were in the Red Lion, going back to the rest of the team.

“I think I should stop flirting with aliens.” _As if that wasn’t obvious,_ thought Keith.

He said, “Yeah,” hoping it came across nonchalantly. And that’s all they said. That's all that needed to be said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah it was really short, ik. it was just an excerpt though.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I have no idea what I'm doing. Also, this is set in season 1, sometime after the whole thing with Nyma and Rolo.


End file.
